


honey is for bees, silly bear

by wawayaga



Series: bakery au [1]
Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Jackson is there if you squint, Jinyoung is also there, M/M, baker changgu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22342570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wawayaga/pseuds/wawayaga
Summary: maybe changgu owns a bakery where maknae line helps out and maybe one day shinwon stumbles in and falls in love with the baker and his treats
Relationships: Kim Hyojong | E'Dawn/Lee Hwitaek | Hui, Ko Shinwon/Yeo Changgu | Yeo One
Series: bakery au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661017
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	honey is for bees, silly bear

It was a fluke that Changgu had even been out of the kitchen long enough to see Shinwon when he came in but Wooseok was running late and if they had any hope of getting through the morning rush, someone needed to help Hyunggu box orders. Jinho had noticed him first, but what doesn’t he notice first. Changgu comes out of the back holding a tray full of lemon bars to slide into the display and jumps when he sees the slack jawed stare peering back at him. He stands up to wipe his hands and welcome this _oh no very cute_ man to his shop.

“Hi! Is there anything I can help you with today?” 

Shinwon blinks at the cakes and looks up to see Changgu smiling at him. He blinks again, takes too long to respond. Changgu’s smile starts to falter and Shinwon doesn’t like that at all. 

“What’s...good here?” he asks and glances over his shoulder when he hears the “Everything!!!” Jinho shouts from his table behind him. Changgu flushes at that and Shinwon likes that very much. 

“Jinho honestly. Are you looking for something sweet or savory this morning?” 

“Maybe one of each?”

“Ah big spender!” Hyunggu says as he reaches around Changgu for a cherry danish, “Hope you’re a big tipper too,” he shoots with a wink going back to his customer. 

“The uh, lemon bars look good,” Shinwon says, but it comes out more of a question than an observation. 

“Oh I just made them this morning!” Changgu brightens. “Maybe an onion turnover for your savory?” 

It was exactly what Shinwon had been looking at when he’d come in. “Yeah that’d be perfect.”

Changgu smiles again, “They’re my second favorite.” 

“Then what’s your first?” Shinwon asks. 

“Come back tomorrow and I’ll have them for you.” 

Shinwon pays for his breakfast and thanks Changgu, “If these are as good as that guy says they are I’ll come back to see about that number one favorite.” He hears Jinho and Hyunggu laughing as the door swings shut behind him. They know as well as he does that even if the pastries taste like mud he’ll be back tomorrow. 

✺

The door bangs open, hitting the wall, Wooseok screams and Yuto jumps, throwing the enormous challah he was holding in the air. Shinwon catches it deftly. 

“Holy shit this is big bread. This is the size of a corgi, who’s buying this? Anyway is that guy here? I don’t know his name but he helped me yesterday?” 

Wooseok looks at Yuto who looks at Wooseok. They both turn to look at Shinwon. 

“Uh, I mean Hyunggu is usually on counter? Blue hair? Flirty?” Wooseok asks. 

“No no no. Black hair, real smiley?” 

“He’s talking about Changgu,” Jinho says as he comes in and hands his mug over to Yuto to start filling. 

“He’s in the kitchen finishing some croissants but I can go get him,” Wooseok turns to stick his head through the door. “Hyung! There’s some crazy guy here asking for you?” 

Shinwon points an aggressive finger at Changgu when he comes out holding his croissants. 

“It’s fucked up what you’re selling here, dude.” 

Jinho mouths “dude” at Yuto who shrugs. 

“Sorry did you not like your purchases yesterday morning? We don’t really do refunds but if you’d like to try something els-” Changgu starts, frowning.

“That was the best lemon bar I’ve ever had in my life, it’s beyond words.” And as the man on the train who had been next to him can attest, Shinwon hadn’t used words after he’d taken one bite of it and started audibly moaning. 

“Oh! Oh good! Oh gosh I’m so glad- you had me worried! Well since you liked yesterday’s here’s that pastry I was talking about.” 

He hands over a spinach croissant that Shinwon grabs greedily and immediately shoves half in his mouth. He closes his eyes and moans and Wooseok’s jaw drops. Changgu blushes down to what feels like his knees, glad there’s only regulars in the shop. Jinho laughs out loud and Shinwon swallows and opens his eyes to see everyone’s expressions. 

“It’s so good…..I’m sorry but it’s so _good_.”

Changgu shakes out of his reverie and tries to busy his hands straightening up the till. “Good I’m really glad,” he says down to the pens in the cup in front of him. 

“Can I get two more of these and maybe a, uh, cinnamon bun?” he asks Wooseok who rings him up and waves him out. 

“See you tomorrow!” Jinho hollers after him. 

As soon as the bell stops ringing, Wooseok whirls around to stare at Changgu. 

“I’m an HOUR late yesterday and I miss you getting a boyfriend?”

“He’s not my _boyfriend_ , Wooseok, he’s been in _twice_ ,” Changgu rolls his eyes. 

“Okay but he was _moaning_ , Changgu, who _does_ that? Jinho doesn’t even do that! _Hui_ doesn’t even do that and when does he ever hide what he’s feeling?” Jinho nods and slips behind the counter to steal a pumpkin muffin.

“He’s right you know. Hui and I are your biggest fans and even I’d say that was an overreaction. He looked like he was about to cry,” Jinho says.

“Okay but maybe he’s never had a good pastry before. Lots of people are used to the grocery store stuff, it’s not a big deal,” Changgu makes his excuses and goes back to the kitchen to start forming loaves for the afternoon. 

✺

Shinwon had been coming in for weeks to talk to him before work and Changgu still thinks it isn’t a big deal. Before Shinwon, Changgu would only ever come to the front if there was an emergency or to drop off new batches of pastries and bread to refresh the displays. Now he was interacting with customers, well, _a_ customer. Wooseok had tried explaining that day with the moaning and the croissant to Hyunggu when he came in but Yuto had shushed them- after all, if Changgu got embarrassed and upset it wasn’t them stuck in a hot kitchen with him.

As far as Changgu was concerned, he was just being friendly; getting to know repeat customers was only good business practice and, okay, maybe going out of his way to find out and make Shinwon’s favorites was a little above and beyond, but honestly he spent so much and tipped Hyunggu and Wooseok so well it wasn’t like he could ever be rude. And okay _maybe_ he was interested in Shinwon. 

Shinwon was tall, funny and enthusiastic. He talked to the boys at the counter and had even had conversations with Jinho which is more than could be said for Yuto who’d seen him every day since he’d started working there. So maybe Changgu was interested, but what could Shinwon see in him? 

He was constantly flustered and frantic and usually covered in flour or cinnamon. He wasn’t as tall and kind as Wooseok or as bright and flirty as Hyunggu. Even Yuto was a better bet- tall, dark and brooding was a good look for most people. Shinwon was friendly with him, but when you see someone every day, why wouldn’t you be? He shook his head and got back to folding dough. 

✺

“Please tell me you have more of those rosemary bagels, Changgu, I can’t go another moment without one,” Shinwon whines flopping into a chair and covering his face with his arm. 

“Rough morning?” Changgu asks, bringing over a steaming bagel with a to-go cup of Shinwon’s favorite tea. 

“Rough night,” he groans and flips off Jinho who hoots at him. “It wasn’t _sexy_ , you perv. None of my pants fit anymore and my friends are making fun of me and I suspect it’s your fault.” 

“My fault? How could it be my fault when you’re the one coming in every morning buying at least three snacks?” 

“You don’t have to make them so tasty!” he snaps finally looking at Changgu. Changgu who…..has a bit of what looks like pie filling on the tip of his nose. Shinwon sits up straighter and stares. “You have a. There’s some- on your nose,” he stutters out, tapping his own nose. 

For a second Changgu is looking at him blankly and then starts laughing when he realizes what he means and wipes it off with his apron. 

“God, I’m such a mess. How have you not found a more professional bakery to frequent by now? Hui and Yanan sell our pies and cookies next door you know, you could go there and be done with our foolishness.” 

“But then how would he get to see our beautiful sparkling faces every morning?” Hyunggu asks, ringing up a woman buying an obscene amount of baguettes. 

“Your creations have nothing on our beautiful sparkling faces, Changgu. Didn’t you know that’s why this place is still open? It’s the eye candy,” Jinho leers at Wooseok, shoving a lekvar hamantaschen into his mouth. 

“Okay, first of all, ew. Second of all, I don’t like the way Hui’s boyfriend looks at me whenever I go in there.” Shinwon says. 

“Didn’t you knock over one of his plant stands?” Changgu asks.

“Okay, _yes_ , but who puts flowers in the middle of an aisle of books? Why would I ever think to notice something like that,” he tries to defend himself. 

The rest of them shrugged. The only thing Hyojong was more protective over than Hui was his plants, they all knew that. 

“Better sunlight probably. But what’s this about your friends making fun of you? I could start making more fruit based stuff if you want something healthier. Or whole grain? Flourless? If you go vegan I really won’t be able to help you there’s nothing good to be gained there and if I can’t bake with butter I can’t bake at all, so please don’t ask me to do that,” Changgu was already coming up with ideas in his head. 

He hadn’t considered…..diet baked goods before. Everyone seemed to like what he had come up with so far so maybe it wasn’t the worst idea to capitalize on everyone starting to remember their New Years’ resolutions now that the weather was starting to turn. He wanders back to the kitchen to brainstorm healthier options with Yuto and the rest of them just watch him go. 

“This time last year he wouldn’t even consider making a gluten free pie crust and now you come along,” another regular fusses from a table over. His boyfriend reaches over and pats his hand, not looking up from his book. “Now now, Jackson, we all do strange things for love,” he says. 

This gets a snort from the staff and Jinho. Shinwon looks at his bagel and pretends not to hear. 

✺

“Why so grumpy, Shinwonnie?” Hongseok asks when Shinwon drags his feet into the office.  
“You know damn well why I’m grumpy,” he snips back. “You were the one pointing out that my pants don’t fit just last night.”

And that was true. Hongseok had mentioned it over drinks, poking Shinwon in the gut and asking if he was planning on cosplaying the Pilsbury Doughboy soon. Shinwon liked to think he was above giving in to some light teasing, but it had hit him in a weird place. 

He knew a few extra pounds wasn’t a big deal and he really enjoyed spending his mornings at the bakery. It was a lot less lonely than having his tea and cereal at home catching up on youtube videos. But maybe Hongseok was right, after all he had fallen off his workout regimine well before he’d wandered into Changgu’s shop. Had he let himself go more than he’d realized? 

“Do you wanna meet me for a run tomorrow before work?” 

“ _Before_ work? Absolutely not. I workout before bed and you know that,” Hongseok says. “And since when are you waking up early enough to go on runs before work anyway?”

Shinwon was a notorious layabout, looking for any last second of rest before he had to clamber out of bed. Weirdly, ever since he’d been going to the bakery he’d become more of a morning person than ever before. He decided not to look at that too closely and shrugged at Hongseok. 

“New year, new me and all that.”

“It’s March, Shinwon,” Hongseok sighs.

“It’s never too late to turn over a new leaf, Honk!” he crows as Hongseok grimaces at the nickname. 

He’s said it out loud now, and he knows that Hongseok is annoying enough to call him out on it if he doesn’t keep his word and so, Shinwon starts jogging in the morning instead of going to the bakery. It’s terrible and he hates it and after a while he starts subconsciously drifting back there, changing his route without realizing and jogging past the door. It had never occurred to him to let everyone there know about his change of plans. 

✺

Changgu hears the bell above the door chime and comes out of the kitchen with a smile on his face. 

“Shinwon! I know we were talking yesterday about you being concerned about your…physique and it’s a little early in the year for it but I’d wanted to try this out anyway before September so-” he stops and puts the apple and honey muffin he’d been holding for Shinwon down on the counter. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry I was expecting someone else! What can I get for you?” he asks the man at the counter who is decidedly _not_ Shinwon who’s looking at him with a bit of concern and a lot of confusion. He orders a black coffee and a loaf of olive bread and does not tip. 

Jinho comes in with Wooseok and Hyunggu and they’re all surprised to see Changgu standing at the counter alone, it’s rare for Shinwon to not be the first person in the door anymore. 

“Shinwon running late this morning?” Hyunggu wonders and gets nothing but a shrug in response. Yuto pops his head through the door to ask Changgu’s opinion on some tart combinations and so he leaves them to it. 

By the end of the lunch rush it’s clear that Shinwon isn’t coming in but that doesn’t stop Changgu from bursting through the door with that hopeful look on his face every time he hears the bell chime. It goes on like this for three days before he finally gives up. Jinho, Wooseok and Hyunggu all breathe a sigh of relief- it was more than a little heartbreaking to see Changgu’s face fall after he realized it still wasn’t Shinwon coming in. 

He doesn’t say anything about it but everyone who comes into the bakery can tell something is off. There aren’t anymore fruit tarts or spinach and cheese croissants- everything is sharp citrus and spicy chiles. He decides to finally perfect his key lime pie, season be damned. His lemon meringues are more lemon than meringue. Just about all the tarts have a raspberry curd that makes the back of the mouth tingle and water. There’s sourdough still but the soft herbed focaccia are replaced with black pepper and parmesan boules. He’s turning out savory pies stuffed with spicy meat and vegetables.

It’s all still selling; it’s all still delicious but the boys can tell something is up- that Shinwon’s absence is hitting him a little harder than it is them. Jinho, annoyed with the lack of sweet offerings but not wanting to give up his favorite workspace, has taken to only ordering tea and brings his own shortbread from home, hiding it whenever Changgu ventures out to the front.

It’s rare again, seeing Changgu beyond the confines of the kitchen. 

Hyunggu’d had to gently suggest to him those first few days that Yuto needed the extra hands in the back while he took stock. When he finally relented, Wooseok had whispered under his breath, “Finally, you’re bringing the whole place down.” Hyunggu looked at him sharply, just grateful that Changgu hadn’t heard him. He was right though, the patrons had started to notice Changgu’s mood. He was always in a good mood and friendly enough, but when Shinwon was in the bakery it was like Changgu was lit up from inside. 

Jinho noticed him first, glancing up from his screen in time to see Shinwon jogging past one morning. He calls out for Hyunggu to look, but by the time he gets the chance, Shinwon has gone. They’re on alert the next day- furiously waving to him from their places at the till when he looks in. He waves back but doesn’t stop. They keep up this routine of distance for a few days until Shinwon finally slows down. 

It’s a Friday, Shinwon’s week has been shit and it looks like Wooseok and Hyunggu have their hands full with a busier than usual breakfast rush. He wants to go in and get a slice of pie and just commiserate with his friends. His new diet and exercise regime have him back on his normal belt hole, what could one treat hurt? He’s about to step onto the sidewalk as a woman walks out and he gets a whiff of the yeast and butter from inside. He shakes his head and continues on his jog. Only Jinho had seen him that time and he thought better of telling the others about it. 

✺

“Changgu I think we should go out for drinks tonight,” Hyunggu says as they’re locking up after their particularly rough day where even Yuto had thrown up his hands and come to sit at Jackson’s table with Jinyoung. He spent twenty minutes pounding milky tea and helping Jackson with some Japanese translations he was having trouble with before attempting to deal with Changgu again. 

“No, thank you, Hyunggu. I’d rather stay in tonight,” he replies, flicking off the lights. 

“Then Wooseok and I will come over to your place! Give us an hour and we’ll pick up some groceries and we can make dinner and watch movies or whatever kids do these days.”

“Hyunggu, you _are_ kids,” Changgu reminds him. 

“Semantics, you know I’m mature for my age,” Hyunggu says, winking at a passing man who only blinks back at him. “Come on, it’ll be fun, we can even invite the boys from next door, make it a real party!” 

Changgu bristles at the thought of spending time with Yanan, and in his apartment no less. 

He knew it was silly but he’d half convinced himself that the reason Shinwon had stopped coming in was because he’d taken Changgu up on that offer to start buying pastries from the bookshop next door. It stood to reason that Shinwon had finally gotten tired of the antics of the bakery proper (he knew he was frequently exhausted by the kids at the front of his shop) and had gone into Hui and Yanan’s store for a respite. And if he’d gone in there then he would have met Yanan, who had just last month gotten back from a trip to China to visit his mother, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone as beautiful and lovely as Yanan. 

He was tall and soft; he liked to wear cashmere sweaters and his hair was a light pink color that looked alarmingly natural and the man was just so damn _pretty_ that why _wouldn’t_ his hair look like cotton candy? Yanan was smart and kind and well read. Changgu knew Shinwon liked to read, he talked to Jinho about books all the time after he’d come sulking into the bakery with his tail between his legs after getting kicked out by Hyojong after the Great Plant Stand Disaster of 2019, afraid to go back and face down glares again. 

Changgu hadn’t had time to read anything more than Cook’s Illustrated in years and he really only kept up his subscription because he liked the sketches on the back cover. Shinwon falling in love with Yanan made sense to Changgu, because otherwise his absence would be down to something Changgu himself had done. 

He’d wracked his brain for weeks trying to think of something, _anything_ to explain why his friend- could he even call him a friend?, why his… _patron_ had vanished. Besides, Shinwon spending time at the bookstore next door would explain why Changgu had seen him running past the bakery a few days ago, he was probably just afraid to get caught. 

He didn’t say any of this to Hyunggu, instead shrugging his agreement. Maybe seeing Hui and spending time with Hyunggu and Wooseok outside of work would be good for him. 

“Might as well see if Jinho and Yuto want to come too.” Maybe with more people, he’d have to interact less with Yanan. 

“Sure! I’ll text them and let you know,” Hyunggu says, reaching in his pocket for his phone. Changgu waves to him and starts the walk to his apartment. 

✺

Hyunggu runs into a body as he’s turning a corner at the grocery store, Wooseok following him leisurely with the cart. 

“I’m so sorry! I always say they need to put up mirrors on these corners you can never see who’s coming,” he babbles reaching to steady the man in front of him. He starts when he realizes it’s Shinwon. 

“Hyunggu, it’s fine, I'm okay. I didn’t hit you with my basket did I?” 

“No, no I’m fine. Wooseok look who it is, our old friend Shinwon!” Wooseok nods at him, eyeing Shinwon warily. “We’ve missed seeing you at the bakery, what happened? Did someone else steal you away?” 

“As if anyone could ever compare to you all. I’ve been...dieting,” he says gesturing with his basket of vegetables and farro. “Figured danishes and focaccia weren’t really part of the whole five-a-day and started working out again.” 

“I mean, yeah we see you running in the mornings but you never stopped to say hi or anything, we all thought you were mad at us,” Wooseok interjects. 

“Listen, we’re shopping for dinner, we’re all going over to Changgu’s tonight, try and cheer him up, you’re welcome to come, I’m sure he’d love to see you,” Hyunggu says, reaching a hand out to Shinwon’s arm. 

“Cheer him up? Did something happen?” Shinwon asks with a frown. Changgu was the cheeriest person he knew other than Hyunggu, what could have possibly gotten him of all people down?

“He’s been a grouchy mess ever since you disappeared on us,” Wooseok snarks. Shinwon looks at him confused. Alarmed at not only his tone but what he was saying. 

“Grouchy mess? I have a hard time picturing _Yeo Changgu_ grouchy,” he starts, but Hyunggu interrupts him with a nod. 

“He’s taking you not coming by really personally. The whole vibe of the shop is…” 

“Whack as hell,” Wooseok finishes. Hyunggu rolls his eyes. 

“ _Whack as hell_ ,” Hyunggu agrees. 

“Tell him I said hi. Listen, I’ll stop by when I can, okay?” Shinwon offers, hoping to make the conversation less awkward.

“Yeah, sure. See you around,” Hyunggu grabs the front of their cart and pulls Wooseok down the next aisle. 

Shinwon stood there a second longer staring vacantly at the display of canned soup in front of him. Changgu was upset because of _him_? 

He’d never considered being missed in the way he misses Changgu. He thought about the bakery often; usually over his dinner of roasted veggies, thinking about how much better the salad in his bowl would be if he had a chunk of hot, soft bread to go with it. He couldn’t pretend it was only the baking he missed, though. The bakery- and the people in it- had become a comfort to him over time and he couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to realize how much he missed them all. He had chalked up the ache he’d been feeling with exhaustion from running and the desire to eat a bagel again. He misses the comfort and warmth of the shop with all its weird personalities mushed up together. 

He smacks his forehead against a can of chicken tortilla soup when his two remaining brain cells bump together long enough to allow him to realize- he just really misses Changgu. He misses Changgu like he misses his family when they went too long without calling; like he misses his bed after too long away. 

“Ah, fuck,” he sighs and turns to the checkout area preparing for a long night of Thinking. 

✺

Changgu is in the shower when Hyunggu, Wooseok and Jinho let themselves into his apartment. By the time he comes out, Wooseok and Jinho are chopping scallions and singing Heart And Soul which is, well, interesting. Hyunggu either doesn’t hear them or is pretending not to as he grates an astonishing amount of cheese into a bowl. 

“Ah, he lives! We were worried you’d drowned in there. I was about to send Jinho in after you,” Hyunggu says when he notices Changgu leaning against the door frame. 

“As if he’d ever give us the satisfaction of seeing what’s under those sleeves and aprons,” Jinho sighs. 

They all poked fun at his fashion sense, but Changgu just didn’t see the point in owning, much less wearing, anything fancier than a henley. Sure he had a button down or two but they were fairly ill fitting and looked more like they were castoffs from Wooseok than bought new; the sleeves hanging too low and the collars hanging open. He was a baker, and a sloppy one at that. Why ruin nice pants and shirts with ingredients when he didn’t need to?

“We can finish up in here if you want to go pick out a movie? I know it’ll take you at least twenty minutes and maybe by then Hui and Yanan will be here,” Hyunggu says over his shoulder. 

“Something scary!” Wooseok pleads. 

“You just like watching Hui cry. It’s no wonder he wouldn’t hire you,” Changgu chides. 

“It’s just so easy to scare him. It’s a shame Yuto already had plans, he’s even funnier when he’s scared,” Wooseok sighs. 

It had been a game between the two of them for months, hiding in the fridge and leaping out when Yuto went to retrieve something. Hiding creepy pictures in the cash register that would spook Wooseok when he opened it to make change. Changgu had finally had to put his foot down when Yuto had jumped so badly after a jumpscare that he’d thrown an entire mixing bowl of apricot jam into the air and almost knocked himself out when the bowl came back down on his head. They’d had to close early that day to scrub it off the ceiling (Wooseok’s job, being the tallest and also the one at fault), and out of their hair. 

Changgu was willing to pick a horror movie if only because he knew they would all end up talking over it anyway and it would be paused at random while they decided to play a game for the rest of the night instead. He also suspected Wooseok had ulterior motives for wanting to watch something spooky.  
Jinho was easily startled and would likely look to the larger man for comfort. He’d seen the looks Jinho gave Wooseok over the screen of his laptop when he thought no one could see him, and knew that Wooseok gave Jinho free cookies more often than not. The fact that they were in his kitchen _singing_ together was, he supposed, just the next weird step in their courtship. Despite his own down mood over the past few weeks, he couldn’t begrudge some of his best friends their own bit of joy. He was a proponent of finding happiness wherever you could-- there was enough bad in the world without his input. 

The rest of the night found them exactly where it always did; spread out on the floor and couch and armchair, trying to watch a movie with an enormous platter of nachos between them. Hui had brought Hyojong who had brought wine which, after the second bottle, brought closeness. By the second act, they’d given up on following the plot and muted the TV in favor of playing Truth or Truth. The group had long since abandoned the _dare_ aspect of the game, all too boring to come up with anything interesting and too lazy to get up and do it. 

“Truth or truth?” Jinho who was on the couch with his feet in Wooseok’s lap asked Changgu. 

From his place on the floor next to Hyunggu he thought for a moment and says, “Truth.”

“What’s been eating at you the past few weeks?” was the reply he got and should have been expecting. 

“Nothing’s been eati-” he starts. 

“We don’t lie during truth or truth,” Wooseok reminds him as the rest of the party nods.

Changgu sighs. “I’ve just been. In a funk.” 

“A funk? Anything to do with this customer I’ve heard so much about?” Hyojong asks, poking Changgu in the side.

“What customer? No, it’s just nothing is coming out the way I want it to and I’m worried it’s going to start affecting sales,” he says, frowning at his friend, not understanding who he was talking about. 

“Oh come on, Changgu. You miss Shinwon. You couldn’t be more obvious than if you’d put a big sign out front asking him to come back,” Jinho says exasperated. “And you know full well that nothing is going to _affect sales _unless you start selling actual dirt. Everything is as perfect as ever but that’s exactly what the problem is. How did you not notice that your flavors are reflecting your mood? Since when is anything in the shop spicy? Everything that isn’t is sour. I’ve been bringing my own cookies from the _grocery store_ for weeks and you haven’t even noticed!”__

__Hui looks at Hyojong, shocked. He’d once brought in a sandwich made on store bought bread and Changgu had threatened to pull his goods from the bookshop’s snack bar if he ever did it again. That Jinho had been eating tinned cookies under Changgu’s nose and hadn’t been kicked out or even noticed was unthinkable. Hui knew that Changgu had been in a weird place, Yuto had spoken to him about it at length, but nothing like this._ _

__“Okay okay, Jinho give him a second,” Hui says holding his hands up. Changgu has a pained look on his face and clearly needs a moment to process what’s been said._ _

__“Jinho, please don’t think I will forget about this betrayal, we will get back to that in a moment. Okay so maybe I’ve been trying different things, I don’t know what any of that has to do with Shinwon,” Changgu attempts, knowing even as he says it that it is only barely true._ _

__Hyunggu runs his hand through Changgu’s hair, “Changgu, it’s been weeks since you’ve seen him. It’s okay to miss him, we all miss him.”_ _

__“I just miss his tips,” Wooseok asserts. Jinho rolls his eyes and kicks at Wooseok’s thigh._ _

__Hyunggu continues, “You clearly miss him, it’s showing in your mood, in your behavior and your bakes. You like him, we all could see it. Why are you having trouble admitting that to yourself?”_ _

__Changgu hides his face in Hyunggu’s legs on the chair beside his head and mumbles something inaudible. Hyunggu pokes him in the head until he moves his face._ _

__“Try that again.”_ _

__“I _said_ , even if I did like him he’s interested in someone else,” he grumbles with a glance at Yanan who is eating the remaining cold nachos and trying to follow along with the rest of the movie playing silent on the TV. _ _

__Jinho, always watching, sees the flick of his eyes. “Oh. I see. Yanan?” he calls, getting the other man’s attention. “Have you met our friend Shinwon? I don’t know that he’s been into your store since you’ve been home from Shanghai.”_ _

__Yanan frowns, thinking. “Not that I can remember. Hui, has he been in?”_ _

__Hui shakes his head, “He’s been avoiding us ever since he bumped into Hyojong’s plants and knocked them over. By _accident_ ,” he reminds Hyojong who bristles at the reminder. _ _

__“I know it was an accident but that doesn’t negate the hours I spent trying to re-pot them and the amount of dirt in the bathtub I had to scrub out.”_ _

__“He _apologized_ ,” Hui sighs. He knew his boyfriend was passionate about his flowers but it really was only an accident and he had heard this story nigh on forty times now. “Okay that’s not the point at all. Back to Changgu.” The man in question groans, earning another pat on the head from Hyunggu. _ _

__“So Changgu see? Shinwon hasn’t met Yanan, he can’t have a crush on him.” Yanan’s eyes widen at this, having missed the beginning of the conversation.  
“Wait hold on. Why did you think this guy had a crush on me?” Yanan wonders. _ _

__“You’re. I dunno. You’re Yanan. You’re beautiful and perfect and he’s been in your store before and I figured he’d gone in there and met you and fell in love and that’s why he stopped coming to the bakery,” Changgu groans again and reburies his face in Hyunggu’s thigh._ _

__“That doesn’t- Okay thank you for calling me beautiful but that doesn’t make sense, Changgu. From what I’ve heard he talks to you every morning and is single handedly trying to put Wooseok through grad school with his tips. I haven’t even seen you together and it’s obvious he has a crush on you,” Yanan explains._ _

__Changgu groans again and Hyojong pulls him into his lap and sways with him._ _

__“Changgu-yah, why are you so down on yourself? You’re the best of all of us,” there’s a shove from Hui at this. “He’d be crazy not to be in love with you.”_ _

__“You’re beautiful, you’re perfect, you look like Linda Evangelista.”_ _

__They all turn to look at Jinho who shrugs._ _

__“I saw it in a meme online I thought it was apt.”_ _

__“Do you even know who Linda Evangelista is, you degenerate?” Hyojong asks him._ _

__“Wasn’t she in that drag documentary?” Wooseok tries._ _

__Hyojong groans and throws himself backwards, Changgu lands on top of him with a grunt._ _

__“I can’t believe I spend time with you fucks.”_ _

__“What am I supposed to do?” Changgu asks from his new position with his head on Hyojong’s chest._ _

__“What do you _want_ to do?” Hui questions. _ _

__“I want. I want to bake him bread and pies and cookies. I want to see his smile when he bites into something. His nose crinkles up and he makes this little noise.” Changgu sits up. “I want to see the face he makes when he blows on his tea when it’s too hot. I want to see him arguing with Jinho over whether or not dust jackets are necessary.” Jinho spits an, “obviously not” from the couch._ _

__Changgu continues, “I want to hold his hand and talk about his day. I want to see his apartment and meet his friends. I want to make him as happy as he’s made me,” he finishes with a furrow in his brow._ _

__“Then I guess you should tell him all this,” Hui says gently, putting his hand over Changgu’s._ _

__“Hui, what if he doesn’t like me back? What if he was just being nice?” Changgu looks to his friend with tears in his eyes._ _

__“Then Yuto and I will lock him in the freezer case until he changes his mind,” Wooseok promises, getting a weak laugh out of Changgu._ _

__“The only way to find out is to tell him,” Hyunggu says softly. Changgu puts his head back in his lap and Hyunggu starts petting his hair again._ _

__“If this all goes wrong I’m fleeing the country and leaving the bakery to Hui.”_ _

__“He doesn’t even work there,” Wooseok shouts, shoving Jinho’s legs off of his lap to leap up._ _

__“Yeah but I’m the only one who wouldn’t run it into the ground,” Hui shoots back._ _

__“Just talk to him, Changgu. I’m sure he’ll be back in soon,” Hyunggu says, trying to alleviate the faux tension. Jinho pulls Wooseok back down to the couch and keeps ahold of his arm._ _

__“If it doesn’t work out with him, you can always date beautiful Yanan,” Jinho jokes._ _

__Yanan bats his eyelashes and Changgu just buries his head in Hyunggu’s lap again.  
  
__

__✺_ _

____

__Shinwon thinks a lot about Changgu over the weekend. He thinks about Changgu’s smile, and Changgu’s laugh that morning he’d pointed out the jam on his nose. It’d rung through his head all day, Hongseok had caught him smiling to himself more than once and asked what was wrong with him. He thinks about Changgu’s arms, kneading dough made them much stronger than his own and wasn’t that an interesting concept? He thought about how Changgu always smelled like yeast and cloves, always smelled sort of like Christmas.  
Shinwon thinks about Changgu’s awful, awful jokes and how he made himself laugh harder than anyone else but how his eyes lit up whenever they actually gave him the satisfaction of laughing along with him. He thought about how Changgu was so bad at keeping his clothes clean despite the full length apron he wore, the handprints on his thighs from when he’d wiped his hands clean of flour or cocoa powder. How Shinwon might like to leave handprints of his own. _  
_

__He thinks about how much happier he’s become since finding the bakery and the little family that worked there. The family that had accepted him as one of their own- until he’d left them. He didn’t realize that’s what he’d be doing when he started running in the morning instead of getting his tea and pastry but the way Hyunggu and Wooseok had spoken to him at the store made him think that’s how they felt about it. How Changgu felt about it._ _

__He gets drinks with Hongseok on Sunday night to hash out some finalities on the project they’d been working on._ _

__“It’s good to see you back down to fighting weight,” Hongseok says, sliding back into their booth._ _

__“Yeah it’s, uh. Good? To be back?” Shinwon shrugs. His body had never been as big a priority to him as Hongseok’s was._ _

__“You never did explain what happened there, I know you stopped working out but even so,” Hongseok goes on._ _

__“I found this bakery. It was the best food I’ve ever eaten. I started going in before work.” Hongseok’s eyes widen at this, “I know, I know. Shinwon? Getting out of bed early? But that’s how good it was, Honk. The people there were really great too. Friendly.”_ _

__“Just friendly?” Hongseok questions._ _

__“Yeah, I mean. The kids that work at the counter are really nice, and there are some regulars I got along with. The guy that owns it is,” he stops, trying to figure out a succinct way to describe Changgu._ _

__“Oh, I see,” Hongseok says smirking._ _

__“What, you see what?”_ _

__“You have a crush on the baker,” Hongseok crows. “I can see it on your face. You look all dopey and wistful.”_ _

__“Yeah. Yeah I really do have a crush on the baker,” Shinwon admits smiling. “But I think he’s mad at me, I haven’t been in weeks. Since I started running, I haven’t seen him.”_ _

__“So go in? Tell him how you feel! If he can put up with your stupid face for this long he probably feels the same way.”_ _

__“You think?”_ _

__“I don’t know, idiot, that’s why you have to ask _him_ ,” Hongseok says rolling his eyes. _ _

__“You’re really very mean to me, you know that?”_ _

__“Yeah but I’m still your best friend and you love me,” Hongseok replies._ _

__“I guess.” A pause. “Can you even spell wistful?”_ _

__“Oh right, but _I’m_ the mean one,” another sigh. _ _

__  
__

__✺_ _

__  
Shinwon thinks about Changgu over his shitty bran cereal breakfast, and he thinks about Changgu while he gets dressed for his shitty morning run, and it’s just his shitty luck that he forgot to do laundry over the weekend because he was too busy having _revelations_ and all that’s left is a really embarrassingly small pair of shorts from years ago. He pulls them on anyway, surprised that they even still fit, and just hopes no one will see him in them.  


__He thinks about Changgu on his shitty morning run. He thinks _a lot_ about Changgu on his shitty morning run. He thinks about just how bad he misses his friend. Shinwon’s stomach starts to rumble, not content with the cold cereal he’d had at home. When he notices where he is, he can’t take it anymore. _ _

__Shinwon bursts through the front door of the bakery, knocking into a woman on the way out who drops her box of danish, spilling them everywhere. He’s huffing in the doorway wide eyed and sees everyone (and really, since when are there this many people in at 8 am? Did they all come to watch him embarrass himself?) looking at him but his eyes lock onto Hyunggu’s._ _

__Hyunggu sighs, nods and goes to help the woman gather her things, Wooseok begins packing up a fresh box of pastries for her and hooks his thumb behind him, pointing at the door to the kitchen. Shinwon gives a half hearted apology to the woman who glares at him and walks, if not more calmly, then more slowly, to the back._ _

__Changgu looks up from his cinnamon buns when the door swings open, not expecting either Hyunggu or Wooseok to be coming back for top ups of anything just yet. He stands straight when he sees who it is._ _

__“Shinwon. Hi? Are you- is everything okay? Why are you back here?” he asks in a rush._ _

__Yuto comes out of the fridge where he’d been looking for butter, sees Changgu staring at Shinwon, sees Shinwon- and Shinwon’s impossibly small shorts, and does an about face and returns to the fridge to take stock until they’re done. Shinwon walks over to Changgu._ _

__“I started going on runs before work and just didn’t think to say anything to you before I changed my schedule and I should have and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to abandon you guys,” Changgu opens his mouth to disagree, but Shinwon continues, “I saw Wooseok and Hyunggu at the store and they said you were upset and that it was my fault so don’t say I don’t need to apologize. I’m not...I’m not _good_ at this so please just hear me out for a second,” Changgu’s mouth snaps shut. _ _

__“When they said you were upset I didn’t understand at first- you’re the happiest person I know. But they seemed really serious about it and I’ve never seen them serious about anything. Your smile is the brightest part of my day and to be the one to take that away… I’m sorry I hurt you, Changgu, I never wanted to do that.”_ _

__He hadn’t been expecting… well, any of that. Hyunggu hadn’t mentioned running into Shinwon at the store, let alone talking about Changgu’s feelings before Changgu himself had realized what he was feeling. He wasn’t sure what to say. He settles on:_ _

__“You like my smile?”_ _

__“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. _You’re_ the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he amends. _ _

__Changgu blushes down to his chest and looks at the worktop to hide his smile._ _

__“Yeah, that’s the one,” Shinwon says moving closer. Changgu looks up at him and sucks in a breath at the intensity in Shinwon’s gaze._ _

__“You have some,” Shinwon glances at the counter Changgu had been working at. “Frosting. Right here,” whispering and gesturing to the corner of his own mouth. Changgu’s eyes widen and he shakes his head chuckling to himself._ _

__“Such a mess, see? It never ends,” he goes to wipe it off but Shinwon catches his hand before he reaches his face. He holds it to his chest and leans in to kiss the frosting away from Changgu’s mouth. Licking his lips he moves back._ _

__“Maybe we could make a mess together?” he asks._ _

__“Gross. Gross. That was so gross, Shinwon,” Changgu says shoving him away and laughing. “ _Maybe we could make a mess together_ , what kind of sleazy line is that?” Changgu looks at Shinwon again, finally taking in his entire outfit. _ _

__“Ah, a sleazy line for a sleazy outfit,” he decides._ _

__Shinwon freezes, remembering exactly what he has on. Suddenly he’s the one blushing._ _

__“I forgot to do laundry,” he mutters, kicking at the floor._ _

__Changgu lifts his chin, “Hey, I’ll accept your apology as long as I’m the only one who gets to see you in these from now on.”_ _

__“I think you have yourself a deal.” Shinwon leans in to kiss Changgu properly. If he presses Changgu into the workbench, that’s between Shinwon, Changgu and the cinnamon rolls waiting to be frosted. If Changgu sneaks a hand under the hem of Shinwon’s shorts then that’s _definitely_ between the three of them. _ _

__“What do you say we let Yuto out of the fridge and let the kids handle the shop for the rest of the morning?” Shinwon offers._ _

__At any other moment, Changgu would have said no. But there was something about the nose running along the side of his jaw that had him thinking ‘yes.’_ _

__“I think you have yourself a deal.”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> twt @changgukah


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